At Bethel AME Church in Scranton, the beds are made and ready for 16 homeless men and 9 women who need a warm place to sleep.

"I talk to some of them when they're not here and I wonder where they are at night and where they're going to stay, and I don't know how they can even stay warm in this kind of weather,” said Heather Bailey, the shelter director.

"We don't think about the cold until it hits and then we see people that come down here and they have no place to go, and they're out there in the weather. I'm glad that we can provide this service for them. We've all got to get along together and if we don't, we all perish,” said Reverend Darian Banks of Bethel AME Church.

Workers at Keystone Mission in Scranton help thousands of people a week with hot meals, clothes, shoes, diapers and more.

They say the people they help have been talking about this frigid weather.

"The reality, particularly in Scranton there's probably 60 percent of the people we serve a meal to that are literally living in a tent or under a bridge or under a cardboard box, so we provide clothes, coats, gloves, hats, bedrolls, blankets. They're looking for another coat, another set of gloves, another under jacket type of situation, another hat or maybe a warmer hat,” said John Gleason of Keystone Mission.

Donations of clothing, toiletries, Clorox, blankets, and food for Keystone Mission can be made to 8 West Olive Street in Scranton and donations of the same items for Bethel AME Church can be dropped off at 714 North Washington Avenue in Scranton.

5 comments

Fredric Undehill 9147722628

Ms. Buynovsky,

My compliments on your report about Homeless. I have a situation which can house homeless and have been trying to get people, 501 and 503 (whatever sections) and church groups to listen to me for several YEARS. I have been challenged on the Pike County Courier blog pages by a “do-gooder” who I have met but has also done nothing. Ironically, that blog was about a concert to raise money for homeless. I hope the money went to a good cause. As for those who are cars in Pike County, they were very cold last night.

If you know some people who want to get results and not just “talk the game” or “fill content,” please contact me ASAHP

tomtom

Fredric Undehill 9147722628

BLEEPNOID,

You are correct. I don’t believe in donating as it is like the proverb about “Give a man a fish and he will be back tomorrow for your entire catch.” However, your comment belies the reality that jobs have been wholesale chased out of the Poconos buy plan.. We all know people with 2 hour or more commutes.